At the end of each month, I look back at my three favorite title tracks by K-pop artists. I take my own ratings into account, but there’s a bit of wiggle room as certain songs tend to grow or fade.
June 2022 Overall Thoughts
I’ll be publishing my top songs of the first half of 2022 tomorrow, so I’ll write more about this then… but at this point I’m wondering if I’ll have a “top ten” songs at the end of this year at all! Seriously, what is going on? Where are all the future classics?
June was a particularly low-rated month. Only two (!) songs earned an 8.75 or above, meaning standout comebacks were few and far between. Usually at this point in the year, I’d be raving about a song of summer candidate. The past five Junes have resulted in classics like Complete, Chi Mat Ba Ram, Wave, Boogie Up, Pporappippam and As If It’s Your Last. The best we could do this year was the Kep1er song, which is… fine, but hardly year-defining.
This wasn’t due to a lack of trying. June saw a heap of releases, including big names like BTS, Nayeon and aespa. But with most comebacks topping out at an 8.25 (B-) max, it felt like an unending stream of solid — but forgettable — fare. Sadly, that description matches the past twelve months of K-pop releases. While compiling songs, I realized that (in my opinion) there have only been two top-ten-worthy singles released since last June. That’s a whole year without the kind of enduring standouts that make me so excited about K-pop. Wow. This has caused me to totally shift the way I think and write about new releases. I apologize if my thoughts feel a bit jaded sometimes.
With that said, I really like my top two songs this month. Number three feels more like a placeholder in a weak June, but it’s an enjoyable piece of pop nonetheless. There’s been a surprising leap frog at the top, with my favorite song taking off like a bullet on my playlist. I’m actually surprised how much I enjoy it. Notable honorable mentions come from Pixy and Kep1er, with songs that have grown on me throughout the month.
Thankfully, J-pop had a stronger June. Johnny’s hard-carried the month with a string of solid releases, including an excellent Sexy Zone album promoted with my favorite single of the year so far. Thank goodness for this agency, which has really made up for an unexciting slate of releases. A fun trip to see Golden Child’s U.S. tour also buoyed my K-pop spirits this month.
I’ve given up trying to predict what will happen next in K-pop, but July has to be stronger than June, right? At least we don’t have the summer Olympics clearing the release slate this year.
Month Cumulative Rating: 7.8
(compiled by averaging the scores of every K-pop review from this month)
J-Pop Highlights
A.B.C-Z – Graceful Runner (video)
News – Loser / Sanjuushi (reviews)
King & Prince – Ichiban (review)
Rocket Punch – Fiore (review)
Sexy Zone – The Finest (video)
TOP J-POP SONG OF THE MONTH
Sexy Zone – Forever Gold (review)
K-POP
Honorable Mentions
Heize – Undo (review)
Jo Yuri – Shhh! (review)
Kep1er – Up! (review)
LOONA – Flip That (review)
MCND – W.A.T.1 (review)
Nayeon (Twice) – Pop! (review)
Omega X – Play Dumb (review)
Pixy – Villain (review)
Sunmi – Heart Burn (review)
Trendz – Who (review)
Ulala Session – I Am Fine (video)
Yoojung (OnlyOneOf) – Begin (review)
TOP THREE SONGS
3. Kang Daniel & Ahn Yujin (IVE) – Move Like This (ft. Kim Yuna) (review)
2. Wonho – Crazy (review)
1. DRIPPIN – Zero (review)
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of May 2022
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of April 2022
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of March 2022
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of February 2022
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of January 2022
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of December 2021
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